North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

in 11. 2 and 5 respectively, and lastly, that of the palatal sibilant which cannot be distinguished from that of the dental, as in 1. 2. The language is Sanskrit, and the orthography does not call for any special remark except that kh is written for sh in –mukha in 1. 12. Other mistakes, such as the omission of a letter in 1. 1 and of the sign of a mātrā here and there, will be drawn attention to and corrected in the text.

...The inscription refers itself to the auspicious and victorious reign of the illustrious Dēvapāladēva, who is evidently identical with the homonymous Paramāra ruler of Dhārā, whose earliest known date is furnished by the Harsūd or Harsaudā inscription to be V. 1275 and another by the Māndhātā grant dated in V. 1282. [1] The object of the inscription is to record the donation of some plots of land, [2] in the presence of the deity called here Udalmēśvara, evidently Udayēśvara, installed in the temple. And since the donee is not mentioned in the record, we may conclude that the donation was made in favour of the deity himself, in the temple the inscription was found. The donor was Dhāmadēya(va ?), an officer in charge of the treasury of the king Dēvapāla, during whose reign the record was engraved.

...Opening with the auspicious symbol for Siddham, the inscription records the date. The year, which is expressed in numerical figures only, is 1286, which must obviously be referred to the Vikrama era ; and, as the expired northern Vikrama year, it corresponds to 1229 A.C. The donation was made on the bright half of Kārttika, on a Friday ; and according to the Indian Ephemeris, this week-day fell on the seventh of the bright half and again on the full-moon day of the month, respectively corresponding to the 26th October and 2nd November. But as the portion showing the tithi is lost, as stated above, we may take either of the days as intended. The impression shows space for two digits for the tithi and it is more likely that they may have been for pūrṇimā, which was also regarded holy for any pious deed. [3]

... The name of the village where the donated land was situated (1. 9) has lost one of its letters and hence it cannot be identified. It was probably situated in the vicinity of Udaipur. Pañchamukha, which too appears to be the name of a village from the context, cannot as well be identified. However, taking Pañchamukha as denoting Śiva, we may suggest that Udaipur itself may have been intended by the expression Pañchamukhapattana.

TEXT [4]

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[1] Nos. 50 and 51, respectively.
[2] In 1.12 the reading appears as visvē. If the reading is correct, it may be connected with the local word showing the 20th part of a bīghā. Visvā (or Biswā) is possibly a corrupt form of viṁśatika.
[3] This calculation is according to the Chaitrādi Vikrama expired; for the Kārttikādi Vikrama expired, Friday on the bright half of Kārttika fell on 11th October, 1230 A.C., and again on 18th October in the same year.
[4] From an impression.
[5] Expressed by symbol which looks like the Nāgarī numeral 5 or 6 and is rarely found in inscriptions.
[6] It cannot be definitely known whether the figure for the tithi, which appears to have been lost, was incised at the end of this line or at the beginning of the next line where a small portion of the stone has peeled off.
[7] This akshara is a combination of both the palatal and the dental sibilants. Sandhi is not performed here and the akshara [Sanskrit] is ornamental, but its reading is certain. In this respect also see Ind. Ant., Vol. XVIII, p. 342. n. 4. Kielhorn read [Sanskrit] Moreover, in the end of the line there appears to be a sign of visarga, which may have been a scratch.
[8] The sign of the mātrā is detached from the letter. After the preceding [Sanskrit] in this line, there are traces of one akshara which is lost. Probably what appears to have been intended is [Sanskrit]
[9] The first akshara in this line is combined with daṇḍa of mātrā of the second, by a top-stroke.

..................CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM
VOL.VII ........................................................................................PLATE LI
UDAIPUR STONE INSCIPTION OF THE TIME OF DEVAPALA; (VIKRAMA) YEAR 1286

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